2018 Skate France International

Grenoble, France

by Klaus-Reinhold Kany

The sixth and
last Grand Prix of this season before the Vancouver Final is
called "Internationaux de France de Patinage.“ It takes place in
southeastern France, in the university city of Grenoble
where the Olympic Winter Games were held in 1968. The U.S.
team won two medals in figure skating then: Peggy Fleming
became Olympic Champion and Tim Wood took silver behind
Austrian Wolfgang Schwarz. The best U.S. pair were Cynthia
and Ronald Kauffman on sixth position. The legendary Ludmilla Belousova
& Oleg Protopopov won the pairs gold
medal. Ice dance was not yet an Olympic sport.

The Grand
Prix of 2018, like the one in 2017, does not take place in
the old Olympic rink, but in a newer and smaller ice rink
called "Pole Sud“ (South Pole) about two miles south of
downtown. In each of the four categories there are several
skaters who can hope to reach the Grand Prix Final in case
of a top placement.

Big favorite in the men‘s event is the 2018 World Champion
Nathan Chen after winning Skate America in October. Also
hoping for a medal are Boyang Jin from China, Dmitri Aliev
and Alexander Samarin from Russia, the second U.S. skater
Jason Brown, Deniss Vasilievs from Latvia and Keji Tanaka
from Japan.

In the ladies event there might be a hard fight for gold
between the 2016 and 2017 world champion Evgenia Medvedeva
from Russia and the new Japanese star Rika Kihira. U.S.
skater Bradie Tennell is a candidate for the bronze medal as
well as Mai Mihara from Japan, Stanislava Konstantinova and
Maria Sotskova from Russia.

Vanessa James & James Ciprès from France are highly
favored in the pairs competition. The two other medals
might be won be the North Koreans Tae Ok Ryom & Ju Sik
Kim, the Russians Alexandra Boikova & Dmitrii Kozlovskii
or the Americans Tarah Kayne & Danny O’Shea.

In ice dancing the reigning world champions Gabriella
Papadakis & Guillaume Cizeron from France announced his
back pain is gone which made them withdraw from the NHK
Trophy. If they compete, they are big gold favorites. The
two other medal might be won by Victoria Sinitsina &
Nikita Katsalapov from Russia and by Piper Gilles & Paul
Poirier from Canada. Outsiders for a medal are the U.S. team
of Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker, the Spanish dancers
Olivia Smart & Adrian Diaz as well as the second French
team of Marie-Jade Lauriault & Romain Le Gac.